are a considerable number of edible wild fruits. No indigenous coco-palms exist, though, these are so plentiful on the adjoining Cocos and Nicobars. Much of the scenery
of the islands is very beautiful.
Animal Life.—This is greatly deficient throughout the whole group, especially as regards Mammalia, of which the species are very few. There is a small pig (S. andaman- ensis), important to the food of the people perhaps that found on the Nicobars; a Paradoxurus; a rat with spiny hairs (Jf. andam.); a small frugivorous bat (Cynopterus marginatus). A "wild cat" is alleged, but there seems doubt about it. No Quadrumana have been seen. Of birds several species seem peculiar to this group, or to the Nicobars, or to the two together; and some of the Anda man species are considered by Mr Blyth to accord better with corresponding species at a distance than with those on the adjoining part of the continent. Thus, Artamus and Oriolus of the Andamans seem identical with those of Java, not with those of India or Burma; and a shrike of these islands agrees better with a species of China and the Philippines than with the nearest species in Bengal, Aracan, and the Malay peninsula. Caves on the coast are fre quented by the swift, which forms the edible nest of the China market. Pigeons, kingfishers, and woodpeckers are numerous. Reptiles are pretty numerous, both as regards species (15 to 20) and individuals, including eight Opliidia and several Geckoes, of which four or five are peculiar. Among these is one (Phelsuma andam.} the immediate kindred of which is known only in Madagascar and the adjoining islands. The Indian toad is common. Turtle are abundant, and now supply Calcutta. The species of fish are very numerous, and many are peculiar. They have been especially studied by Dr F. Day. It is much to be desired that these islands should have a thorough scientific exploration whilst the type of their productions is still substantially uninfluenced by foreign agency.
History.—It is uncertain whether any of the names of the islands given by Ptolemy ought to be attached to the Andamans ; yet it is probable that this name itself is traceable in the Alexandrian geographer. Andaman first appears distinctly in the Arab notices of the 9th century, already quoted. But it seems possible that the tradition of marine nomenclature had never perished ; that the Ayadov 8a.ifj.ovos vrj<ros was really a misunderstanding of some form like Agdamdn, while Nfjcroi Bapov<r<rai survived as Lanka B&lils, the name applied by the Arabs to the Nicobars. The islands are briefly noticed by Marco Polo, who probably saw without visiting them, under the name Angamanain, seemingly an Arabic dual, "The two Angamans," with the exaggerated but not unnatural picture of the natives, long current, as dog-faced Anthropophagi. Another notice occurs in the story of Nicolo Conti (circa 1440), who explains the name to mean " Island of Gold," and speaks of a lake with peculiar virtues as existing in it (the natives do report the existence of a fresh-water lake on the Great Andaman). Later travellers repeat the stories, too well founded, of the ferocious hostility of the people ; of whom we may instance Cesare Federici (1569), whose narrative is given in Ramusio, vol. iii. (only in the later editions), and in Purchas. A good deal is also told of them in the vulgar and gos- sipping, but useful work of Captain Hamilton (1727). In 1788-89 the Government of Bengal sought to establish in the Andamans a penal colony, associated with a harbour of refuge. Two able officers, Colebrooke of the Bengal Engineers, and Blair of the sea service, were sent to survey and report. In the sequel the settlement was established by Captain Blair, in September 1789, on Chatham Island, in the S.E. bay of the Great Andaman, now called Port Blair, but then Port Cornwallis. There was much sickness, and after two years, urged by Admiral Cornwallis, the Government transferred the colony to the N.E. part of Great Andaman, where a naval arsenal was to be established. With the colony the name also of Port Cornwallis was transferred to this new locality. The scheme did ill; and in 1796 the Government put an end to it, owing to the great mortality and the embarrassments of maintenance. The settlers were finally removed in May 1796. In 1824 Port Corn- wtillis was the rendezvous of the fleet carrying the army to the first Burmese war. In 1839, Dr Heifer, a German savant employed by the Indian Government, having landed in the islands, was attacked and killed. In 1844 two troop-ships, "Briton" and "Runnymede," were driven ashore here, almost close together. The natives showed their usual hostility, killing all stragglers. Outrages on ship wrecked crews continued so rife that the question of occupation had to be taken up again; and in 1855 a project was formed for such a settlement, embracing a convict establishment. This was inter rupted by the great mutiny of 1857, but as soon as the neck of that revolt was broken, it became more urgent than ever to provide such a resource, on account of the great number of prisoners daily falling into our hands. Lord Canning, therefore, in November 1857, sent a commission, headed by Dr F. Mouat, to examine and report. The commission reported favourably, selecting as a site Blair s original Port Cornwallis, but pointing out and avoiding the vicinity of a salt swamp which seemed to have been pernicious to the old colony. To avoid confusion, the name of Port Blair was given to the new settlement, which was established in the beginning of 1858. At the end of 1871 the number of convicts in the colony was 7603. For some time sickness and mortality were excessively large, but the reclamation of swamp and clearance of jungle on an extensive scale by Colonel Henry Man when in charge (1868-1870), had a most beneficial effect, and the health of the settlement has since been notable. Of late years the European detachment of 120 men has sometimes been without a man in hospital.[1] Cattle have been introduced in considerable numbers ; extensive gardens have been planted, embracing many thousands of valuable fruit and timber trees. Mangoes, oranges, pommeloes, pine-apples, and jack-fruit are grown with especial success. The Andaman colony obtained a tragical notoriety from the murder of the viceroy, the Earl of Mayo, by a Mohammedan convict, when on a visit to the settlement, 8th February 1872. Eecently the two groups, Andaman and Nicobar, the occupation of the latter also having been forced on the British Government (in 1869) by the continuance of outrage upon vessels, have been united under a chief commissioner residing at Port Blair. Steamers run from Calcutta to both groups monthly.
(See, among other works, Lieut. Colebrooke in Asiatic Researches, vol. iv. ; New Ace. of the E. Indies, by Capt. A. Hamilton ; Adven tures and Researches, by Dr Mouat ; Papers in the Journal and Proceedings of the As. Soc. Bengal ; Kurz, Report on the Vegetation of the Andaman Islands; and other official documents.)
(h. y.)
ANDELYS (Les), a town in the department of Eure, France, formed by the union of Le Grand and Le Petit Andely, which are situated, the latter on the eastern bank of the Seine, and the former nearly half a mile from the river, at a distance of about 20 miles north-east of Evreux. Grand Andely, the older of the two, dates from the 6th century, and contains a collegiate church, whose stained- glass windows are remarkably beautiful. Petit Andely sprang up around the chateau Gaillard, which was built by Richard Cceur de Lion in 1195, and was formerly one of the strongest fortresses in France. The chief manu factures at Les Andelys are cloth, thread, and leather, and there is a considerable trade in grain and wool. Population (1872), 5379.
ANDENNE, a town of Belgium, in the province of Namur, situated on- the right bank of the Meuse, 10 miles east of Namur. It contains no buildings of note, but is a place of considerable manufacturing activity. The principal productions are porcelain, tobacco-pipes, and paper, and in the neighbourhood are beds of pipe-clay and marble quar ries. Population, 6370.
ANDERNACH, a small town of Rhenish Prussia, situated on the left bank of the Rhine, 10 miles north-west of Coblenz. It is the Antunnacum of the Romans, and in the Middle Ages was a fortified town of considerable im portance, but at the present day the walls only add to its picturesque appearance. Among the objects of interest are a lofty watch tower, the Coblenz gate, and the fine parish church, built in the beginning of the 13th century. Andernach has a trade in leather, corn, and wine; but its most noted articles of commerce are millstones, made of lava and of tufa-stone, which when pounded and mixed with lime, possesses the property of hardening under water, and has been much used by the Dutch as a cement in the construction of their dykes. Population about 4000.
- ↑ 1 Iii 1867 the mortality among convicts was 10 16 per cent., and in only one previous year had it been below that figure, often in excess. 1868 gave 3 9 per cent. ; 1869 2 per cent. ; 1870, 1 07 per cent.; 1871, about the same.
